Mother of abandoned infant at St. Regis was frustrated by domestic dispute: Police

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Domestic troubles forced the 41-year-old woman to abandon her newborn child in the toilet of a five-star hotel in Worli, police told mid-day. They have admitted her at Nair hospital. The baby is also at the NICU of the hospital.

The Malad resident, a working mother, told NM Joshi Marg police that she has been having domestic problems with her husband, who works in a Gulf nation, officers told mid-day. They have not been speaking to each other for months. The husband also questioned the paternity of the newborn, which enraged the woman, and she abandoned her baby, police added.

Tracing the woman

On Monday morning, NM Joshi Marg police received a call about an abandoned newborn child in a trash bin of a women's toilet at St Regis, Worli. Police checked the CCTV cameras and spotted the pregnant woman. Police got her picture from the footage and also her name and mobile number, which she had given while entering the hotel. She had told the staff that she was there to attend an event.

Police also got the CCTV camera footage of the vehicle she took after leaving the baby. They tried to contact the cab driver, but as the vehicle had been sold multiple times, it became difficult to track the current owner. After working three straight hours on the information, police managed to get the driver's name. They brought him to the police station and obtained the woman's destination.

"The driver identified the building where he had dropped the woman. A police team was sent to the location. They knocked on a door asking for the woman by her name. They did not reveal the purpose of the visit, until establishing her identity by tactfully questioning her," said a senior officer requesting anonymity. The woman lives with her paralysed mother and two children.